William Fitzsimmons

Singer / Songwriter

William Fitzsimmons is a singer-songwriter best known for his songs “Passion Play” and “Please Don’t Go,” which aired during pivotal scenes in ABC’s medical drama Grey’s Anatomy.

His first two full-length albums, “Until When We Are Ghosts” (2005) and “Goodnight” (2006) were completely self-produced and recorded by Fitzsimmons at his former home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

His most recent effort, 2008′s “The Sparrow And The Crow” was his first studio record, and impressively reached #1 on the iTunes Top Folk Albums chart, and #56 on the iTunes Top Albums chart.

In addition to the above, his music has also been featured on ABC’s “Brothers & Sisters,” “MTV’s Life of Ryan,” The CW’s “One Tree Hill,” ABC Family’s “Greek,” and Lifetime’s “Army Wives.” He has also been featured in top music magazines like Billboard, Rolling Stone, Paste, Spin, Musikexpress, Uncut, Q Magazine, and Performing Songwriter Magazine.

Born in Pittsburgh to two blind parents, both of whom were living-room musicians, he picked up their passion for music and was playing piano and trombone in elementary school and taught himself guitar while he was in junior high school.

Over time, he also learned to play banjo, melodica, ukulele, and mandolin. While pursuing a master’s degree at Geneva College, Fitzsimmons began tracking some of his songs on home recording equipment, and following his graduation and while he was working as a mental health therapist, these appeared as his debut album, “Until When We Are Ghosts.”

His music is described as a gentle mixture of folk-rock and electronica applied to carefully written and often autobiographical songs that, at their best, delivered a quiet emotional power.

Fitzsimmons’ music was noticed initially largely through MySpace, and from touring with fellow artists Ingrid Michaelson, Brooke Fraser and Cary Brothers among others.

* Singer-songwriter best known for his songs “Passion Play” and “Please Don’t Go,” which aired during pivotal scenes in ABC’s medical drama Grey’s Anatomy.

“The full-sounding break-up record [The Sparrow and the Crow] certainly works against expectations, and that someone would strive to make hurt sound so complete and so beautiful can set you on edge in unexpected ways.” -popmatters.com